Kathmandu, November 27

The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) has started deploying civil servants at various petrol pumps to curb black-marketing of petroleum products, especially petrol and diesel.

The government officials were deployed as per the recommendation made by the five-member committee formed under MoCS Joint Secretary Jib Raj Koirala. The committee was formed to investigate cases of black-marketing.

“We want to root out the problem of black-marketing from the source. That’s why we decided to assign civil servants at petrol pumps,” a member of the committee said on condition of anonymity.

As of now, around 50 civil servants have been sent to various petrol pumps in Kathmandu Valley. “These officials are from the MoCS, the Department of Commerce and Supply Management, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and other government bodies,” the official said.

These civil servants will basically check the amount of petroleum products unloaded at fuel stations by NOC and see whether the distribution is proper.

“If these officials notice any suspicious activity they’ll report to the MoCS and we’ll take necessary action,” the official said.

Earlier it was claimed that many fuel stations, including those operated by government agencies, had colluded with fuel smugglers and engaged in black-marketing of petroleum products.

“Although we have not found evidences to prove this, we do not want to take chances at this critical moment when fuel crisis is at its peak. That’s the reason why we have deployed civil servants at fuel stations,” the official said.

Currently, NOC has been distributing diesel to both private pumps and fuel stations owned by government agencies on a rotation basis. However, petrol is distributed solely through fuel stations owned by government agencies.

To raise transparency in fuel distribution, NOC has lately started publishing names of fuel stations that have received the supply of petrol and diesel.

Currently, public vehicles are getting fuel based on the odd-even registration numbers every alternate day. For instance, bigger buses are currently getting 30 litres of diesel, mini buses are getting 20 litres and microbuses and jeeps are getting 15 litres each on alternate days.

Also, vehicles of schools and colleges are getting 30 litres of diesel every Monday and Thursday from designated fuel stations, while government vehicles and automobiles of public corporations, except essential service providers, are getting 25 litres of diesel per week.

Similarly, motorcycles and cars owned by media-persons are given three litres and 10 litres of petrol, respectively, every Friday from fuel station of Teku-based National Trading Ltd.